Current Standard of Care in Diffuse Large B-Cell lymphoma

Jason Westin, MD, the leader of the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma research team at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma, discusses the current standard of care in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

According to Westin, DLBCL is the most common lymphoid cancer in the United States, occurring in 30,000 US adults every year. However, treatment has not progressed since the 1990s, with most patients reciving a cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin hydrochloride (CHOP) chemotherapy combination.

According to Westin, CHOP has a cure rate of 2/3, but at least 1 in 3 patients need additional treatment. Currently, few options are available for them. In order to find more effective therapies for this population, a better understanding of why these patients do not response to CHOP is needed, according to Westin

DLBCL or diffuse large B cell lymphoma is the most common lymphoid cancer in adults. It's occurs in about 30,000 people each year in the US. And the treatments of that most common lymphoid cancer have been effectively stuck in the 1970s and the 1990s. We use a combination chemotherapy approach called CHOP, which was originally described in 1976. And, obviously we changed a lot in life from 1976 to now, but we're still using this old combination chemotherapy for in the curative setting for lymphoma. So obviously, new approaches are needed.

00:48 | Most patients are treated with a combination chemotherapy CHOP, and that cures approximately two-thirds of patients. So it's a it's a fairly effective standard therapy, at least 1 out of 3 people needs additional treatments and we don't do as well in the relapse setting as we'd like. So we're constantly trying to innovate and improve that frontline setting and get beyond two thirds cure rate with initial treatments and that will take better understanding of why those 1/3 don't respond to chop better understand the biology of what makes them resistant to treatments.